diff --git a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Test/TestKernel.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Test/TestKernel.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..55909a0d10a40d32217ea7abb66a380271d0bef8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Test/TestKernel.php
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+<?php
+
+/**
+ * @file
+ * Contains \Drupal\Core\Test\TestKernel.
+ */
+
+namespace Drupal\Core\Test;
+
+use Drupal\Core\DrupalKernel;
+use Drupal\Core\Extension\Extension;
+use Drupal\Core\Installer\InstallerServiceProvider;
+use Composer\Autoload\ClassLoader;
+
+/**
+ * Kernel for run-tests.sh.
+ */
+class TestKernel extends DrupalKernel {
+
+  /**
+   * Constructs a TestKernel.
+   *
+   * @param \Composer\Autoload\ClassLoader $class_loader
+   *   The classloader.
+   */
+  public function __construct(ClassLoader $class_loader) {
+    parent::__construct('test_runner', $class_loader, FALSE);
+
+    // Prime the module list and corresponding Extension objects.
+    // @todo Remove System module. Needed because \Drupal\Core\Datetime\Date
+    //   has a (needless) dependency on the 'date_format' entity, so calls to
+    //   format_date()/format_interval() cause a plugin not found exception.
+    $this->moduleList = array(
+      'system' => 0,
+      'simpletest' => 0,
+    );
+    $this->moduleData = array(
+      'system' => new Extension('module', 'core/modules/system/system.info.yml', 'system.module'),
+      'simpletest' => new Extension('module', 'core/modules/simpletest/simpletest.info.yml', 'simpletest.module'),
+    );
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * {@inheritdoc}
+   */
+  public function discoverServiceProviders() {
+    $providers = parent::discoverServiceProviders();
+    // The test runner does not require an installed Drupal site to exist.
+    // Therefore, its environment is identical to that of the early installer.
+    $this->serviceProviderClasses[] = 'Drupal\Core\Installer\InstallerServiceProvider';
+    $providers[] = new InstallerServiceProvider();
+    return $providers;
+  }
+
+}
diff --git a/core/scripts/run-tests.sh b/core/scripts/run-tests.sh
index 3134a5c534db665095daab8402774edfafacb86c..643bcb77dd6202acea229e14673722f427963507 100755
--- a/core/scripts/run-tests.sh
+++ b/core/scripts/run-tests.sh
@@ -7,8 +7,8 @@
 
 use Drupal\Component\Utility\Timer;
 use Drupal\Core\Database\Database;
-use Drupal\Core\DrupalKernel;
 use Drupal\Core\Site\Settings;
+use Drupal\Core\Test\TestKernel;
 use Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Request;
 
 require_once __DIR__ . '/../vendor/autoload.php';
@@ -364,9 +364,6 @@ function simpletest_script_bootstrap() {
     require_once $include;
   }
 
-  // Replace services with in-memory and null implementations.
-  $GLOBALS['conf']['container_service_providers']['InstallerServiceProvider'] = 'Drupal\Core\Installer\InstallerServiceProvider';
-
   drupal_bootstrap(DRUPAL_BOOTSTRAP_CONFIGURATION);
 
   // Remove Drupal's error/exception handlers; they are designed for HTML
@@ -384,7 +381,7 @@ function simpletest_script_bootstrap() {
     ));
   }
 
-  $kernel = new DrupalKernel('testing', drupal_classloader(), FALSE);
+  $kernel = new TestKernel(drupal_classloader());
   $kernel->boot();
 
   $request = Request::createFromGlobals();
@@ -394,14 +391,7 @@ function simpletest_script_bootstrap() {
   $container->get('request_stack')->push($request);
 
   $module_handler = $container->get('module_handler');
-  // @todo Remove System module. Only needed because \Drupal\Core\Datetime\Date
-  //   has a (needless) dependency on the 'date_format' entity, so calls to
-  //   format_date()/format_interval() cause a plugin not found exception.
-  $module_handler->addModule('system', 'core/modules/system');
-  $module_handler->addModule('simpletest', 'core/modules/simpletest');
   $module_handler->loadAll();
-  $module_filenames = $module_handler->getModuleList();
-  $kernel->updateModules($module_filenames, $module_filenames);
 
   simpletest_classloader_register();
 }